by C. C. Ekeke
The Cerc’s golden eyes raked across CT-1 in piercing sweeps. “What’re you all doing here?” he smirked, drawing chuckles.
Nwosu quickly got to business. “We’re off to Faroor to take down this fellow.” He looked back at the TriTran as a 3D hologram materialized. Lily now saw a scrawny Farooqua with dark-blue skin and slightly disfigured features. White, angular tattoos wreathed his gaunt frame, as did a swaddling loincloth wrapped around his waist.
“Ghuj’aega, leader of the Farooqua Ghebrekh tribe. What do we know about him?” Nwosu prompted.
Marguliese answered first with her usual detached and faultless wording, “Hostility has brewed between Farooqua and Ttaunz for approximately 209.67 years. Ghuj’aega was birthed from their more recent interspecies unrest, and used that to his advantage.”
Khal then addressed his teammates, articulate and well coifed, wearing the shit out of his red and black uniform. “Ghuj’aega came out of nowhere almost three years ago near a remote Ttaunz Defense Force outpost near Faroor’s northern polar cap. A few TDF operatives tried containing him at said outpost, which Ghuj’aega blew up singlehandedly.”
Lily went wide-eyed hearing that. “Whoa.”
“Since then, he has enlisted members of other tribes by promising to eradicate Faroor’s Ttaunz populace,” Marguliese added. “Ghuj’aega now has the Ghebrekh, a large terrorist assemblage that accedes to his every demand. They attack Ttaunz transports and deploy suicide bombers within city-states borders. The Ttaunz’s response has instigated several back-and-forth assaults, but no direct skirmishes.”
“Gheebrick?” Tyris questioned, beady cobalt eyes squinting.
“GHEH-BreKH,” Both Liliana and Habraum corrected.
“GHEBREHK!!” Khrome belted out, drawing stares. “I felt left out,” he shrugged.
Khal ignored him. “Ghuj’aega’s followers see him as some emissary from the entity they worship called ‘the Zenith Point,’ embodied by Faroor’s moon, Qos. Some more fanatic Farooqua think the Zenith Point birthed him, which is why other Tribal Nations aren’t helping to stop him.”
“Maelstrom-lite,” Khrome snarked to Tyris, “same crazy, less filling.” Both chortled. Lily shook her head and smiled. There was very little Khrome took seriously, which she never held against him.
Nwosu wasn’t amused. “Your jokes aren’t appreciated, Lieutenant. Ghuj’aega and his ilk continue their attacks, yet somehow remain cloaked from any detection.”
Khal quickly followed, “For years Union negotiators have tried forging peace treaties between the two races. But talks always collapse. Now the assaults have escalated.”
“It came to a head a few days ago.” Nwosu tacked buttons on the TriTran console. Ghuj’aega’s creepy visage was replaced by a ruined, smoking husk of a village littered with Farooqua corpses. Khal cringed. The gruesome visuals forced Lily to look away.
Habraum continued, “After the Ttaunz butchered this village, the Ghebrekh struck back.” The TriTran images shifted to display a handsome, well-dressed Ttaunz youth and a long-necked, egg-headed Kudoban. “By kidnapping Taorr the Lesser, the Faroor Viceroy’s heir, and a Kudoban negotiator named Zojje. The other diplomats were murdered.
“We find Ghuj’aega. We take him out,” the Cerc stated, pacing slowly. “Then we rescue the Viceroy’s son and the Kudoban, if still alive.”
V’Korram tossed back his long ginger mane and harrumphed. “Why Star Brigade?” he asked brusquely, “instead of other UComm outfits?”
Khal frowned. “Didn’t you read the brief?” Peevishness made him sound younger than twenty-five.
The big Kintarian glared back, his green-flecked eyes glittering dangerously. Lily had never seen such eyes, always filled with perpetual fury. “I did,” V’Korram snarled, “and found it lacking.”
“It’s okay, Lt. Al Abdullah,” Habraum stepped in evenly. “I asked JSOG’s uppercrust the same question. The murders of non-Ttaunz diplomats make this an interplanetary incident. And there’s nothing alleged about Ghuj’aega’s powers.”
V’Korram’s ears perked up. “He’s a maximum?”
“Or some kind of enhanced being. Several of his followers are, too,” Khal added.
Marguliese’s left eye flashed like a cold sapphire starburst. “The Farooqua are antiquated in all aspects, principally technologically. The Ghebrekh’s maximal abilities would expound how they constantly evade the technologically superior Ttaunz.”
“Once we reach Faroor,” Habraum concluded, “we’ll have a PLADECO strike team to assist in hunting Ghuj’aega.”
Lily frowned, a question niggling at her. “If Ghuj’aega can’t be found, how will we?”
“Simple.” Habraum’s hazel-gold eyes twinkled. “Star Brigade has one of the Union’s most brilliant techs.”
Khrome pointed approvingly at himself. “Love your thinking, oh fearless leader!”
After CT-1 was dismissed and headed for their assigned stations, Tyris turned to Khrome with furrowed brow. “Pardon my legal alien ignorance on Union history, but why is Faroor so important to the Galactic Union?”
Lily, heading for the ship’s medcenter, stopped in her tracks.
Khrome saw this and grinned. “Sorry. I have to go be brilliant! Besides, Lily’s the history nerd.”
“As if your ego needed more inflation,” Tyris snapped as his Thulican teammate darted away. Liliana strode over and sat down beside the Tanoeen. “Okay, okay,” she smiled excitedly and exaggeratedly stretched her arms in preparation. She’d read up extensively on Faroor history before this mission. “So Faroor’s at the nexus of the Herope Cross, which is…” She paused to gesture with her hands, signaling for Tyris to finish.
The Tanoeen bristled, yet obeyed, “…the intersection of the Orthambra Trade Route and the Cercidalean Spine, the Union’s busiest trade routes.”
“Right.” Liliana congratulated him with a smile so ultrabright that Tyris looked ready to thaw under it. “The Ttaunz are also indirectly responsible for the Union’s membership surge after its formation.”
Tyris narrowed his cobalt-blue eyes, befuddled. “How?”
“You know the Ttaunz aren’t native to Faroor, yes?” Liliana asked, like a perky teacher to a student.
“Who doesn’t?” the Tanoeen snarked. “They tell anyone within earshot.”
Lily cleared her throat to explain. “Centuries ago they ruled an interplanetary regime called the Ttaunz Supremacy.”
Tyris nodded his spiky icicle-like head. “Oh. Them. Didn’t they fight the Union?”
“After the Union formed in 2151, they tried conquering us twice, mainly to make Galdor part of the Supremacy.”
“The First and Second Frontier Wars,” Tyris added. “See, I’m learned.”
Lily gave him a glowing look. “The Supremacy ended in 2157 when a star in their space went magnetar.” She spoke more gravely now, “The Ttaunz homeworld and about 91 percent of their colonies got flash-fried, killing trillions.” This graveyard of dead worlds, now a haven for smugglers and space pirates, bordered the Union’s Commerce and Phyrion Sectors. CT-1 had scarcely skimmed its edges some months ago on a mission, which was as far as Lily ever needed to travel there.
Tyris’s beady dark-blue eyes conveyed shock. “That’s why it’s called ‘the Supremacy’s Ruin.’”
“Right!” Liliana was thrilled by how quickly Tyris caught on. “Smatterings of Ttaunz lived in the Libratta Systems and other far-flung colonies. But with the Supremacy destroyed, those colonies revolted and evicted every Ttaunz off their worlds. Back then, the Union was just the original Founder Races…” Lily gestured again, awaiting an answer.
“Kudobans, Voton, Rhomerans, earthborn humans and Galdorians,” Tyris said.
“Yes!” The doctor beamed. “They transported sixty million Ttaunz refugees to Faroor.”
“When only Farooqua lived back there?” Tyris added.
“Exactly!” Lily patted him on the shoulder proudly. Her Navarran accent grew thicker the more
excited she got. “Back then, Farooqua had no issue with Ttaunz living on their vacant lands. But to help the Ttaunz thrive there, the Union created which trade route through the Herope System?”
“Orthambra,” Tyris answered succinctly.
“Mmhmm,” Liliana nodded. “And seeing how seamlessly the Union worked as a government, especially with a former adversary, other worlds popped up left and right to join.”
“I see.” Tyris rubbed his blocky chin.
“Glad ya do.” Liliana smiled, quite pleased with herself. “That answer your question, Commander?”
The Tanoeen stood and gave her two thumbs up. “Profusely.” Tyris had no visible mouth to smile with, but the gleam in his eyes more than sufficed. He had big shoes to fill, and Lily wanted to help as much as possible. That began with knowing the lay of the land, as Nwosu always preached.
According to her readings, Ttaunz culture from attire to architecture was stuck in the past as if the Supremacy still reigned. Unsurprisingly, the Frontier Wars were a sore topic on Faroor. But bygone grandeur was more palatable than the harsh reality of Union membership. And the Ttaunz’s hatred of sharing Faroor with the Farooqua…
Across the bridge, Lily spied Khrome and V’Korram reviewing Faroor’s terrains on the TriTran. In the opposite corner near the cockpit, Marguliese looked impeccably long and lean standing before a floating holoscreen detailing several Ghebrekh attacks, the data flashing by obscenely fast.
“Aren’t you just full of smarts, Cortes?”
Lily turned toward the voice, startled. She didn’t know Khal was still on the bridge. He leaned comfortably against an unadorned wall, observing her with bemusement. Just like when she first saw him months ago, all his absurd beauty and allure nearly liquified Lily’s bowels. “If this Brigade thing doesn’t work out,” Khal continued, “you could give tours at history museums.”
Lily could taste mockery in his words and that rakish smirk. “My current gig’s just fine,” she answered stiffly.
“Then answer this.” Khal pushed off the wall toward her, every movement graceful yet swaggering. “Is Marguliese real?” he whispered.
Liliana blinked and stood up, adjusting her henley. She fought the urge to not gaze up the length of his trim physique…and salivate. “Excuse me?”
“She’s not what I expected from a Cybernarr.” Khal uttered “Cybernarr” so nonchalantly the doctor flinched away.
How could he—oh. Clearly, Sam had briefed him on Marguliese’s background. “What did you expect?” Lily asked slowly, recovering herself.
Khal closed the distance between them, standing nearly three inches taller. “Always imagined a calculating cyborg with cyber parts exposed, not a piping-hot alien fembot.”
Liliana eyed him hesitantly. It was obvious what he fished for here. “I doubt she’s interested, Khal.”
“Who said I was interested?” He blinked innocently.
“Didn’t have to.” Nearness made his allure almost stifling… Lily took a few steps back, hands on her hips. “At least not out loud.”
“Aren’t you adorable?” Khal laughed rather condescendingly, threading his fingers through dark windblown locks. “All the ladies like me.” He waggled a hand around and playfully poked Lily’s nose.
That made her giggle girlishly. Why did I do that? She glanced down to hide the rising blush in her cheeks.
As Lily looked up, Khal had already swaggered over to the Cybernarr with a sexy smile. “Hello, Marguliese. Glad to be on the same CT with you.”
“Second Lieutenant Al Abdullah,” the Cybernarr replied in emotionless, mechanized tones. She didn’t bother looking away from the screen. “I will reserve my affirmations until after this mission concludes.”
“Well enunciated, but needless. Usually, they call me Big Khal.”
“Do they?” Marguliese answered flatly, still not facing him.
“Sometimes,” Khal admitted, placing his right hand on Marguliese’s. Her golden face remained blank, but her eyes narrowed a fraction.
His audacity took Lily’s breath away. Is he space-crazed? And by V’Korram’s dubious glances, she wasn’t alone in her opinion.
“If you ever need friends on Star Brigade besides Captain Nwosu, I’m more tha—Owowowow!” Khal crumpled to one knee so fast Lily did a double take, and quickly saw why. Marguliese subtly trapped Khal’s pinkie between her thumb and pointer finger, bending it back disturbingly far.
The Cybernarr finally faced Khal, who recoiled under her chilling azure glare. “Remove your hand from mine,” she said, flat and frightening, “before I remove it from you.” As soon as Marguliese released his hand, the rookie wisely yanked it back.
Khal flexed his hand experimentally. Still, he leered after Marguliese as she marched off the bridge like a soldier heading into battle. “I do like ‘em feisty.”
Lily exchanged a sour look with V’Korram and Khrome after Khal had exited. “He calls himself ‘Big Khal’?” That threw cold water on whatever lusts she had felt earlier.
“He used the word ‘feisty,’” Khrome threw back, offended.
V’Korram replied with a brusque, blunt growl. “Already miss Sam.”
Me, too, Lily concurred, but not aloud. Even when they agreed on matters, V’Korram still found reasons to bite her head off. Her eyes landed on the holoimage V’Korram and Khrome were now studying: Faroor with its rocky grey surface and large blue blotches of ocean swaddled in white billows. Sitting on the inky backdrop in close orbit was its moon Qos.
There was nothing extraordinary about the moon’s size or shape, which strongly resembled Old Earth’s Luna. Its radiance was another story: a strange and otherworldly lilac glow bled off the moon in wispy trails. There was a power there, palpable even through 3D holoprojection. Liliana continued to gaze, feeling a growing uneasiness that couldn’t be explained.
Qos, the alleged source of Ghuj’aega’s power. A shudder ran through Lily, so intense that she hugged herself. The doctor turned her face away from the visual and fled from the bridge as fast as her long legs could carry her.
Chapter 18
If only leading CT-2 was this fun, Sam mused. The crackling fire she had conjured cast a pale blue glow over her audience’s mesmerized faces. She was juggling two large triangles of swirling azure flame over her open hands. Before that, she had unleashed a fiery orange bird as bright as daylight to soar around the classroom.
Sam dressed casually for her presentation in hip-hugging blue denims and a dark-green Star Brigade logoed tee, her buttery blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail. The darkened classroom she stood in looked as if the Galactic Union itself had thrown up all over it. Union cartography maps and memberworld flags covered the walls, while 3D globes of individual memberworlds floated in the back of the classroom.
After she finished, lights flooded the classroom. Nineteen Korvenite youngsters sat cross-legged before her, awestruck. Their lovely Kudoban teacher stood in the back next to Jhori, a wiry Korvenite in his early twenties with a shaved head. The latter served as Sam’s helper and occasional Korvenite liaison for months now.
“[Questions?]” Sam asked in perfectly accented Korcei. She was learning the Korvenite dialect for Tharydane’s benefit, but this class provided a convenient practice forum. A dozen youngsters shot their hands up.
“Cephè?” Sam pointed at a doll-like girl, pale as snow, waving her arm with feverish determination.
Cephè straightened up self-importantly. “[Can you fly?]”
“[Oh yeah,]” Sam scoffed playfully, winning a gush of “Oooohs.” “[Wanna see?]”
The class exploded with thrilled anticipation. These ten-year-olds, all from internment camps, had learned about maximums today in their xenobiology class. Sam, possessing maximal abilities, was invited by their instructor to discuss them. To her delight, the kids were eating up her presentation like candy.
Sam’s main reason for visiting was to check on the Korvenite refugees from the Conuropolis sewers. They were rig
htfully scared, but her familiar face had gone a long way in calming their nerves. Jhori, her silent shadow, lurked in the background in case trouble emerged, which didn’t.
The children, however, were another big reason why Sam loved visiting Calliste’s Korvenite sanctuary.
The facility on Terra Sollus’s largest moon was originally conceived as a thinktank. That changed before Ari Bogosian’s resignation over six months ago. In one of his last acts as Union Chouncilor, he authorized this and four other covert sites around the Rhyne System to house the Korvenite refugees. Given the public blowback over the internment camps, this bill met almost zero resistance in the Bicameral. And compared to the internment camps’ revolting squalor, these facilities were palatial.
Sam visited Calliste once a week. Fighting for these Korvenites meant nothing if she didn’t know them. After several consistent visits, many Korvenites now welcomed her presence. Most were grateful for their liberation, and roamed freely outside their new homes. Some considered this “another internment camp.” Those Korvenites, particularly those formerly of Maelstrom’s retributionaries, were currently confined and in counseling with Kudoban volunteers. Sam called it what it was, “deprogramming.”
Korvenites were free to use their psionic abilities while in the parameters of their living communities or classrooms. But if they stepped outside a designated area, the facility security instantly inhibited their gifts. A necessary evil until the Korvenites get their own planet. Sam had no clue when that would happen.
After finishing with the Korvenite youngsters, she parted ways with Jhori and retreated to an elevated bridge overlooking a sprawl of settlements. She reclined against a handrail, gazing up at the facility’s lofty holographic array mimicking normal blue skies. But Terra Sollus was real enough. The giant azure and greenish-brown disk peaked halfway over Calliste’s horizon, dominating the sky. Its two other moons, higher up in the heavens, were also authentic. From this distance, Terra Minor and Owen’s Moon looked smaller than Sam’s fists.